Screw cap and a sport closure cap with integral seal opening means

ABSTRACT

An integral seal opening means within a sport closure cap for containers, in which a tamper evident seal with a reinforced rim secures the mouth opening. The closure cap holds a minimum of three protrusions, extending towards the seal, each having cutting edges of which the lower one is at a smaller radius. These protrusions engage with the tamper evident seal, when the cap is rotated clockwise, thereby cutting off part of of the seal rim and at the same time cutting three banana shape slots in the seal. For single serve beverage bottles with tamper evident seal and a sport closure, there is no need to unscrew the cap for opening the seal and getting access to the beverage. Initially the reinforced rim is used to prevent protrusions from accidently opening the bottle seal. The opened seal remains in place while the sport closure is held onto the bottle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

“Not Applicable”

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

“Not Applicable”

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTINGCOMPACT DISC APPENDIX

“Not Applicable”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an integral opening means, placedwithin or on top of a protective threaded plastic closure cap andthreaded sport closure caps for various types of rigid and semi rigidcontainers (example bottles, jars, cans, packaging with a round orcylindrical opening and the like) to enable the user to open in an easyand convenient way a tamper evident seal, connecting to and covering anopening of the container.

Nowadays tamper evident seals are widely used in food and beverageindustry, pharmaceutical, chemical industry, agricultural products,herbicides/pesticides, petro-chemical products, edible oils, lubricatingoils, cosmetics and personal care products. This inner seal is usuallyenclosed by a protective closure cap, screwed or pressed onto thecontainer neck. The seal assures product integrity and prevents anychanges or leakage. It increases the shelf life of container products bykeeping the contents free from oxidation and contamination. Tamperevident seals are considered to be safe and hygienic.

Usually tamper evident seal consists of a multi-layer sheet material,such as paper, a polymeric film, aluminum foil, or a laminate of paper,polymeric film and/or aluminum foil, securely leak and airtight attachedto the rim of the mouth opening of the container. In order to get accessto the product inside the container, the protective closure, such as asimple plastic screw cap, first needs to be unscrewed from the containerneck, after which the tamper evident seal can be manually peeled off orpunctured by a finger or sharp object. However, when tamper evident sealis used together with sport closures (example; push pull cap, flip/twisttop closure, novel sport closures with or without valve systems, pourspout closures and the like), the sport closure first needs to beunscrewed from the container neck to manually remove and then separatelydispose of the inner seal and then screwed back onto the containerbefore the product can be consumed. The prior art patents describedherein offer various ways of removing the tamper evident seal from themouth opening of the container.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,013 to Bar-Kokhba, shows that the removal of theinner seal can be cumbersome and discloses a means to open this seal bya single cutting devise connected to the cap and also a means thatallows rotation of the cap less than 360 degrees. The seal remainshanging in the opening of the bottle, unless manually removed. Thecutting devise can be on top or within the cap, thereby cutting a “C”type opening in the inner seal, but with a rotation limit of less than360 degrees. When within the cap, a tamper evident band is required thatneeds to be removed, before the cap can be further screwed down onto thebottleneck. The method thus described has two disadvantages namely: (1)a tamper evident band needs to be removed before cutting open the innerseal (2) the inner seal either hangs in the mouth opening of thecontainer, or needs to be manually removed. In that case two plasticparts need to be separately disposed. For certain applications thissolution may not be suitable where direct skin contact with the productin the container may not be advisable.

Other patent disclosures have been published to remove the inner seal,in a similar way such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,582 to Art etal. The means described is similar to the patent as described in U.S.Pat. No. 4,634,013 to Bar-Kokhba but with provisions of a ramp todisengage the cutting means from the foil, leaving a “C” type opening inthe seal, in such away that the seal will not detach completely. Thismeans is useful but manual removal of the seal as well as a tear awaytap will be still required, having the same disadvantages as mentionedin the patent to Bar-Kokhba.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,506 to Lehmkuhl et al. discloses a means to open theseal by providing a little nub extending from the upper wall of ascrewed-on closure cap. Unscrewing this cap and placing the cap upsidedown on the bottleneck can open the seal, allowing access to the liquidfor consumption. Although there is no need for provisions to cut theseal open for less than 360 degrees, the seal remains hanging in thebottle opening unless manually removed.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,832,580 to Jackman, discloses a tamper evident containerclosure seal with an integral pull opener. The seal is opened by forcinga finger into the weaker area of the seal void configuration. The brokenopen center portion of the seal then forms a pull-tab that can bepartially connected, which allows the pull-tab to be lifted back out andpulled from the container. This means of seal removal requires manualactions having similar issues mentioned above.

The afore described methods of tamper evident seal removal may beadequate for containers with a protective screw cap, but they posehygienic and environmental issues, as the inner seal still needs to beremoved by hand and disposed separately. Furthermore, those methodscannot be used for more aggressive products inside the container, suchas certain type of chemical agents or medicine, where for safety reasonsmanual contact is not recommended.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,015 to Giles adds a pull-tab to the inner closureseal as a way of removal. In this case the seal can be removed withouttouching the contents of the container but still needs to be manuallyremoved and disposed separately.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,605 to Taylor describes a device for removal anddisposal of a membrane seal from a plastic bottle by using an annularcutting member and a piercing and extracting member within a separatecap that is placed onto the bottle neck, after the protective cap hasbeen removed. This solution requires a separate cap attached to theclosure cap and an extra piercing means.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,311 to Butler et al, describes a method andapparatus for removing and storing a container seal on the upper side ofa closure seal. In order to remove the seal, the closure cap needs to beremoved, turned over and rotated before the seal removing and storingdevice can be applied.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,942,284 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,385 to Amanat et al.;Apparatus for removing tamper-evident seals from containers; providesmeans to remove a tamper evident seal from a container mouth using acentral perforating means that retains the cut out portion of the sealwithin the cap, preventing it from falling into the container. Thiscentrally perforator means cannot be applied for sport closure caps, asdescribed in the present invention later on. Additionally the cap needsto be turned over to apply the seal removal means.

Other inventions describe various means to remove the tamper evidentseal either manually after removal of the closure cap or by retainingthe seal by provisions on the outer top side of the closure cap orprovide separate seal detaching means, but none address the problems ofopening or removing the seal when applied to sport closure caps.

The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the disclosed stateof the art techniques by providing a plurality of protrusions withcutting means that can be easily incorporated in the design of thestandard threaded closure cap and alternative sport closures, whileadditional provisions are foreseen that prevent the engagement of thesecutting means prematurely with the seal. In the case of the alternativesport, closures used for single-serve beverage containers together witha tamper evident seal, the sport closure cap does not need to beunscrewed from the container to remove or open the tamper evident sealfor getting access to the product inside.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Problems with the removal of the tamper evident seal by hand and thedisposal thereof can be overcome with the present invention, whereby ascrew cap is provided with a plurality of protrusions with cuttingedges, projecting from the inside top cover of the screw cap, equallyspaced circumferentially and radially at an equal distance from thecenterline but within the inner radius of the mouth opening of thecontainer. These protrusions are pointed downwards, having at least onecutting edge, initially remaining just above the inner seal. Theprotrusions with one cutting edge are inclined inwardly with the cuttingedge tip closer to the centerline of the mouth opening of the containeror in another configuration, with straight perpendicular protrusions,having at least two cutting edges, of which the tip of the lower cuttingedge is placed closer to the centerline of the closure cap. The minimumnumber of protrusions for the present invention is three. The lowercutting edge of the protrusion with the smaller diameter cuts into theinner seal for only a small distance, while moving downwards through theinner seal. When the closure cap is further screwed down onto thecontainer neck the other cutting edges with a larger diameter take over.

Two options are available in designing the screw cap with protrudingcutting edges, whereby access to the contents is obtained through thefull opening of the container and whereby it is desirable that the innerseal is completely removed or in the case of a sport closure cap, theinner seal needs only to be partially cut open. The first option is fora simple screw cap, holding the protrusions within the closure cap. Inthis case the rotation angle of the closure cap is greater than 360degrees divided by the number of protrusions and the inner seal iscompletely cut open by forming a disc. As this disc has a largerdiameter than the cutting edge tip of the protrusions, it will remainwithin the plurality of protrusions of the closure cap andsimultaneously removed with the cap from the container, whereby thecontainer mouth is now fully opened for drinking or pouring out thecontents from the container. This type of arrangement of cutting meanswithin the closure cap can be very useful for chemicals stored inbottles, jars or containers or for medicines not to be touched with barehands. As a second option, the plurality of inclined protrusions canalso be provided on the outer top side of the closure cap, protected bya cylinder with the inside diameter slightly larger than the outsidediameter of the mouth of the container, In that case the cap needs firstto be removed, turned over, placed back with the protrusion side facingdownwards towards the mouth opening of the container and rotated for acomplete removal of the inner seal. It is desirable that each protrusionhas at least four cutting edges, allowing the closure cap to be rotatedin either direction.

In a second preferred embodiment the rim of the inner seal has beenenlarged in diameter and reinforced, while in the closure cap extracutting means are provided to cut off part of the seal rim, when openingand or removing the inner seal. This enlarged rim allows eliminating thetamper evident band of the first preferred embodiment.

A third embodiment and/or application of the present invention is forclosures designed especially for on-the-go consumption held insingle-serve bottles, closed off with a push pull cap or other novelsport closures. Hereby the sport closure with protrusions is designed insuch way that the inner seal is opened only partially when the sportclosure is rotated clockwise and moves further downwards onto thecontainer neck. In this case the rotation angle should be less than 360degrees divided by the number of protrusions in the closure, therebycutting a multiple of banana shape slots into the inner seal on theinner circumference of the mouth opening of the container. Thecross-sectional flow area of all slots together, however, shall beadequately large, to allow the contents of the container to pass easilywhen being consumed. There is no need for removing the sport closurefrom the container at all, in order to get access to the product andeven can be designed in such away that the sport closure cap remainspermanently attached to the bottle. As there is no need to remove thetamper evident seal manually it thus enhances the hygienic use of theproduct and eliminates the need for manual disposal of the inner seal.

In a fourth embodiment the sport closure cap has been slightly alteredallowing the extended part of the enlarged inner seal to be bent overthe rim of the bottleneck, thereby providing means for keeping the sportclosure to remain on the bottle, after cutting open the inner seal

To assure that the cutting means, in the described embodiments above,don't cut open prematurely the inner tamper evident seal, a number ofpreventive means are disclosed which are part of the present invention.In order to accomplish this, the rim of the inner seal is enlarged andreinforced, providing an initial stop for the closure cap that preventsthe engagement of the cutting protrusions with the seal. This enlargedportion of the inner seal rim breaks off or bends over the edge of therim of the bottleneck, when the closure cap is further screwed down.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The first objective of the present invention is to open a tamper evidentseal that closes off the mouth of a container with a threaded neck,thereby overcoming the disadvantages of prior art seal opening methodsand to provide an efficient and convenient way for the consumer toremove the tamper evident seal, used together with a screw cap or sportclosure cap. The improved seal opening means can be easily incorporatedinto existing designs of afore mentioned closure caps, while there is noneed for manual removal and disposal of the inner seal.

A second objective of the present invention is to provide means to keepthe screw cap or sport closure at an initial position, thus preventingthe engagement of the cutting means incorporated within closure capsfrom cutting open the tamper evident seal prematurely.

A third objective of the invention is to open a sealed containerhygienically, whereby there is no need to touch the inner seal with thefingers of one's hand and whereby the cut open part of the seal does notfall into the container.

A fourth objective of the invention is to provide the possibility ofresealing the container after removal or opening of the inner seal.

A fifth objective of the invention is to provide a method of removing oropening the inner seal for sport closures (such as a push pull cap,flip/twist top closure, sport closures with or without valve system,pour/open spout closures and the like) as there are presently no cuttingmeans foreseen in the design of these closure caps to remove the innerseal without having to remove the closure cap first to get access to theinner seal.

An sixth objective of the invention relates to sport closures forsingle-serve bottles by providing means to keep the sport closureattached to the bottleneck after the inner seal has been opened. In thisway the inner seal, the sport closure and the bottle are disposed oftogether as a complete unit.

A seventh objective of the invention relates is to cut open and removethe seal completely from the mouth opening of the container with asimple screw cap, thereby having the full opening of the mouth availablefor pouring out the contents of the container.

An eighth objective of the present invention is to provide a means toeliminate the tamper evident band that needs to be separately disposed.

A ninth objective is to provide a tamper evident seal with a reinforcedrim for keeping the closure cap at an initial position, prior to cuttingthe seal open and a weaker central part that can easily be cut open.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a front view of a first preferred embodiment and applicationof the present invention for a threaded closure cap, screwed onto acontainer neck with a tamper evident band.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 showing inside thecap the circumferentially spaced plurality of protrusions with cuttingedges extending downwards just above the tamper evident seal and thevisible tamper evident band in place.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 with the tamperevident band removed and the closure cap rotated clockwise to its lowestposition onto the bottleneck, while the inner seal, covering the openingof the bottleneck, has been cut open and of which a disc shape part isheld within the protrusions.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross-section A-A of FIG. 2, showing a pluralityof protrusions within the closure cap.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail “P” of FIG. 2 showing a single protrusionwith two cutting edges.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged detail “Q” of FIG. 4 showing the cutting edges ofa single enlarged protrusion of FIG. 5 as a top cross-section thereof.

FIG. 7 shows the closure cap of FIG. 1 unscrewed from the bottle andholding inside the removed inner seal from the bottle opening, whichremains within the confinement of the protrusions.

FIG. 8 shows the bottle in the opened position, with part of the innerseal bent over the edge of the bottleneck.

FIG. 9 shows an enlarged detail “R” of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 shows a vertical cross-section of a cap with a cutting rim andprotrusions.

FIG. 11 shows a front view of a tamper evident seal, being a secondpreferred embodiment, with a reinforced rim but a weakeningcircumferential cut in the rim of which an enlarged detail “S” is shownin FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged detail “S” of the bottleneck of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 shows atop view of FIG. 11.

FIG. 14 shows a front view of a third preferred embodiment andapplication of the present invention for a sport closure with a valve,illustrated for the Self Regulated Spout (SRS) closure cap, withprovisions on the lower part of the cap to secure the SRS closure cap tothe bottle.

FIG. 15 shows a vertical cross-section of FIG. 14 with the tamperevident seal of FIG. 11 unopened.

FIG. 16 shows a vertical cross-section of FIG. 14 with the SRS closurefully screwed down onto the bottleneck and whereby the rim of the innerseal has been cut loose and the central part of the inner seal has beencut open.

FIG. 17 is a horizontal cross-section B-B of FIG. 15 prior to openingthe inner seal.

FIG. 18 is a horizontal cross-sectional view C-C of FIG. 16 showing thecut open flow area, when the cap is provided with three protrusions androtated clockwise over an angle of 90 degrees.

FIG. 19 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view “T” of a portion of FIG.15 illustrating details of the present invention for the third preferredembodiment for sport closures with the closure cap in its initialposition and the tamper evident seal unopened.

FIG. 20 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view “U” of a portion of FIG.16 illustrating details of the present invention for the third preferredembodiment for sport closure with the tamper evident seal cut open.

FIG. 21 shows a front view of a fourth preferred embodiment andapplication of the present invention for a sport closure with a valve,illustrated for the Self Regulated Spout (SRS) closure cap, with specialprovision on the rim of the inner seal, to secure the SRS closure cap tothe bottle.

FIG. 22 shows a vertical cross-section of FIG. 21 with the tamperevident seal of FIG. 11 unopened having a reinforced rim, as depicted inFIG. 12.

FIG. 23 shows a vertical cross-section of FIG. 21 with the SRS closurefully screwed down onto the bottleneck and whereby the rim of the innerseal has been bent over the edge of the bottleneck and the central partof the inner seal has been cut open.

FIG. 24 shows an enlarged cross-section “V” of a portion of FIG. 22,illustrating details of the present invention for the fourth preferredembodiment for sport closure with the closure cap in its initialposition and the seal unopened.

FIG. 25 shows an enlarged view “W” of FIG. 23, illustrating details ofthe present invention for the fourth preferred embodiment with part ofthe rim of the inner seal bent over the edge of the bottleneck and theinner seal opened.

FIG. 26 shows a further enlarged cross-sectional view “X” of FIG. 25.

FIG. 27 shows a top view of an improved flexible tamper evident sealreinforced rim with a plurality of cuts in the outer rim with bent overlips.

FIG. 28 shows a front view of the invention for a push pull capapplication.

FIG. 29 shows a vertical cross-section of FIG. 28.

FIG. 30 shows a top view of the bottle opening with three-banana shapecuts in the tamper evident seal of which a front view is shown in FIG.31.

FIG. 31 shows a partial front view of a bottleneck from which the pushpull cap of FIG. 28 has been removed.

FIG. 32 shows a front view of the invention for an open spout closure,using a dust cap to close the bottle after removal or opening of theinner seal.

FIG. 33 shows a vertical cross-section of FIG. 32.

FIG. 34 shows a top view of FIG. 32, with three banana shape openings inthe tamper evident seal, after removal of the spout closure cap.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the drawings of FIGS. 1-9, a first preferredembodiment and application of the present invention is shown for aplastic threaded closure cap, screwed onto a bottle with a bottleneck,secured by a leak-proof and airtight tamper evident seal. The closurecap comes with a tamper evident band, which needs to be removed, priorto opening the tamper evident seal and getting access to the contents ofthe bottle.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a first embodiment for the threaded closurecap 1, screwed onto a bottleneck 11 of bottle 3 in its initial(unclosed) position together with a tamper evident band 2 having apull-away tab 4. FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross-section of FIG. 1, withthe tamper evident band 2 in place, while FIG. 3 shows a verticalcross-section of FIG. 1 with the tamper evident band 2 removed, allowingthe closure cap to be screwed downward onto the bottleneck 11 to itslowest position until stopped by collar 12. The closure cap consists ofa disc shape top wall 7 integrally connected to a cylinder 8, withfemale threading 9 inside, screwed over a male threading 10 ofbottleneck 11. The tamper evident seal 5, as illustrated in FIG. 2,consists generally of a multi-layer plastic, paper and/or aluminum foil,with a relative stiff rim 20.

In the first embodiment and application of the current invention ofFIGS. 1-4, the closure cap is provided with a plurality of protrusions13 (with a minimum number of three), circumferentially placed andintegrally connected to the lower side of the disc 7 at the inside ofclosure cap 1, with a diameter somewhat smaller than the inside diameterof the bottleneck 25, positioned in downward direction towards theopening of the bottleneck, but initially remaining slightly above theinner seal 5. This position of the closure cap with the protrusions 13above the inner seal is held until the tamper evident band 2 is removedand the closure cap can be further screwed down onto the bottleneck.

After removal of the tamper evident band 2 and screwing down the closurecap further onto the bottleneck 11, the protrusions 13 will now engagewith the inner seal 5, by rotating the closure cap clockwise. Theprotrusions 13 of FIGS. 2-4, with details shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, areprovided with cutting edges 14 and 15, of which 15 ends up in a sharppointing edge 16, having a smaller diameter 17 than cutting edge 14 witha diameter 18 (see FIG. 4, cross-sectional view A-A of FIG. 2). As theprotrusions 13 move in two directions; namely rotationally and axially,the cutting edge 15 with the sharp tip 16, is only for a smallcircumferential distance involved in cutting the inner seal 5 at thesmaller diameter 17. After that the cutting edge 15 is no longer in useand the further cutting of the inner seal is taken over by cutting edges14 with a larger diameter 18.

While rotating the closure cap 1 clockwise, circumferential slots arebeing cut into the inner seal 5, at the inside of the bottleneck 11initially at a diameter 17 and later at a diameter 18. If the rotationangle of the closure cap 1 is greater than 360 degrees divided by thenumber of protrusions, a disc type part 19 of the inner seal will be cutloose from the inner seal 5. As the diameter of this inner disc of theseal is larger than the diameter of cutting edges 15 with a tip 16, disc19 will stick between the protrusions 13 and can be removed from thebottleneck together with the closure cap, thereby opening the bottle. InFIGS. 8 and 9 the inner portion 21 of rim 20 as part of inner seal 5that hangs over the bottle rim 6 is pushed against the inside wall 25 ofthe bottleneck 11 by the triangular cross-sectional shaped protrusionswith corners 14′, 14″ and 14′″ of FIG. 6, so that no cutting remainswill fall into the bottle and the mouth 25 of the bottle is fullyopened. Thus described; a bottle having an inner seal and a closure capwith an integral opening means in the form of a plurality ofprotrusions, can be opened without the need of manually removing thetamper evident seal after opening the bottle as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.This means of opening a tamper evident seal can be important inparticular, when skin-contact with the contents of the bottle should beprevented, as with chemicals or certain type of medicines.

A second embodiment and application of the present invention is shown inFIGS. 10-13, where the plurality of inwardly inclined protrusions 13 areplaced inside the threaded closure cap with an extra circumferentialcutting means 23 of which the inside diameter is slightly larger (lessthan 0.5 mm) than the outside diameter 20 of the bottleneck 11. Theextra circumferential cutting means 23 may have a continuous sharp edgeor edges in the shape of saw teeth as shown in drawing of FIG. 10. Theprotrusions 13 are of the same type as described in the first embodimentof the invention and therefore will not be described here or are of atype with cutting edge 14 and 15 combined to one cutting edge but havingan inclination towards the centerline of the bottleneck with the tip 16at the smallest diameter (not shown). The rim diameter of the inner sealis hereby 1 or 3 mm larger than the inner seal of the first preferredembodiment with a portion 24 of FIG. 12 that hangs over the rim edge 20of bottleneck 11. FIG. 13 is herein a top view of the bottle of FIG. 11.The rim of the inner seal 5 has been reinforced, by using strongermaterials, but at the same time weakened by a circumferential slit 22right at the edge 20 of the bottleneck 11. This overhanging portion 24serves two purposes; (1) to function as a stop position of the closurecap whereby the extra cutting means 23 of the closure cap, touches thisportion 24, keeping the protrusions 13 from reaching the inner seal 5;and (2) when the bottle needs to be opened, the closure cap is furtherscrewed down onto the bottleneck 11, thereby cutting off portion 24,while the inner seal 5 is being cut open by the protrusions 13. Theapplication of an enlarged inner seal is further described in the thirdand fourth embodiment.

A third embodiment and application of the present invention is shown inFIGS. 14-20, in which the protrusions 13 with cutting edges 14 and 15 ofFIGS. 5 and 6, are applied to alternative sport closures with a valvesystem such as a “Self Regulating Spout” (SRS) closure cap toEssebaggers in U.S. Pat. No. 7,350,666 and as further described in Dutchpatent 2001524 and PCT application WO2009/131457. The SRS closure capassembly 35 of FIG. 14 and as further illustrated in verticalcross-section of FIGS. 15 and 16, consists of a spout 26, holding amembrane 27 with an integrated valve 29 having a valve seat 52 in avalve retaining element 28, which as a unit (assembly) 35 is screwedonto a bottle 30, having a bottleneck 31. Spout 26 is thereby integrallyconnected to a cylinder 32 holding female threading 33, which is screwedonto bottleneck 31 with male threading 34. The valve retaining element28, being an integral part of the SRS closure cap assembly 35, isrotationally fixed to spout 26. This valve-retaining element 28 isprovided with preferably three protrusions 36, having preferably asomewhat different shape as the protrusions 13 of FIGS. 5 and 6 and ofwhich an enlargement views “T” and “U” of FIGS. 15 and 16 is shown inFIGS. 19 and 20, with the inner seal unopened and opened respectively.These protrusions have two vertically oriented cutting edges 37 and 39,one radially 38 oriented and one cutting edge 40 under an angle, in sucha way that the intersection of cutting edge 38 and 40 has a smallerdiameter than cutting edges 37 respectively 39. The tamper evident seal5 of FIG. 2 also needs some adjustments, having a slightly largerdiameter 41 with the rim 57 reinforced relative to the remainder ofinner seal 45 and a circumferential carve 42 right at the outer diameterof the bottleneck rim 43. The SRS closure cap assembly 35 is screwedonto the bottleneck 31 until the cylindrical boss 44, as part of spout26, reaches the enlarged inner seal 45. The SRS closure cap assembly 35is initially in this position and as such delivered to the consumer. Ifsomeone wants to inspect that the contents of the bottle has not beenopened before, the SRS closure cap assembly 35 can still be removed fromthe bottle and tamper evident seal 45 can be inspected. In general,however, the consumer will not inspect tamper evident seal 45 prior todrinking and the SRS closure cap assembly 35 will be further screweddown onto the bottleneck, whereby the protrusions 36 engage in cuttingthe tamper evident seal 45 open, while at the same time a piece of theouter diameter of tamper evident seal 45 breaks off forming a ring 57that drops down into cavity 47. The SRS closure cap assembly 35 can berotated over an angle 48 of FIGS. 17 and 18, which angle is smaller than120 degrees, preferably 90 degrees in the third preferred embodiment,having only three protrusions 36. In this case the three protrusions 36cut three banana shape slots 49 in inner seal 45, of which the flow areashall be larger than the cross-sectional flow area 50 of the spout 26.By rotating the SRS closure cap assembly 35, the closing rim 51 asintegral part of valve retaining element 28 in FIGS. 19 and 20 movesdownwards onto the rim of the inner seal 45, which is welded or glued tothe rim 46 of the bottleneck 31, while the protrusions 36 rotate over anangle 48 and at the same time move downwards over a distance 53. Asalternative option the rotational angle 48 can be more than 120 degrees.In that case a disc is cut from inner seal 45 in a similar way asdescribed in the previous preferred embodiment of FIGS. 1-4. In thatcase some measures need to be taken that this disc does not close offthe flow of fluid to the spout, by providing three or more stubs 56 onthe valve retaining element 28. For this third embodiment it might bedesirable that the SRS closure cap assembly 35 remains attached to thebottle after inner seal 45 has been cut open. Provisions can be made tothe lower part of cylinder 32 to accomplish this by adding small hooks54 on the inside circumference of the lower part of cylinder 32, thatengages with a bottle ring 55 of the bottleneck 31 when the SRS closurecap assembly 35 is further screwed down. After engagement of these hookswith the bottle ring 55, the spout assembly cannot be separated from thebottle anymore, without exerting a large force on the SRS closure capassembly. Instead of hooks on the lower part of cylinder 32, ratchetingmeans can be applied between the bottleneck and the SRS closure capassembly 35, not further described in this patent application. The aforedescribed third preferred embodiment of the present invention, isparticularly interesting for situations where no parts are to bedisposed separately, other than together with the bottle.

Another option is a fourth embodiment to keep the closure cap with thebottle is also shown in FIG. 21-23 of which details are shown in FIGS.24-27 respectively. In this case the extended rim part 57 of the seal,can act as a means that prevents the closure cap from unscrewing fromthe bottle, whereby this extended rim part bends over the rim of thebottleneck 31, thereby getting in position 58. An added smallcircumferential edge 59, extending on the inside of the cylindrical boss44 as part of spout 26, will prevent the removal of the SRS closure capassembly 35 of which a further enlarged detail “X” of FIG. 25 is shownin FIG. 26. This embodiment requires however, a strong bond between therim of the inner seal 45 and the rim of the bottleneck 46. The bottlering 55 and hooks 54 on the SRS closure cap assembly of FIGS. 19 and 20and the tamper evident band 2 of FIGS. 1 and 2 can than be omitted. Ifso required a plurality of cuts 61 forming small overhanging lips 60,can be made in the extended rim 57 to enhance the flexibility of the rimas shown in FIG. 27.

Alternative applications of the present invention to open a tamperevident seal, can be used for other sport closures such as the push pullcap, caps with a valve, rotational open/close caps and screw caps withsuction spout holding a flip open dust cap. For all of theseapplications an inner seal will be required, when the contents in thebottle can rapidly deteriorate by exposing it to ambient air for a longtime during storage. Example for the mentioned applications are shown inFIGS. 28-34, using similar protrusions within the closure cap to open atamper evident seal, as described before.

In eliminating the tamper evident band of the afore mentioned preferredembodiments and applications, is could be useful to provide visual meanson the outside of the closure cap that the cap was rotated clockwise andopened the inner seal. Two provisions can be made to show that thecontents of the bottle has been accessed (a) A visual mark on the capshowing the open/close position relative to the bottleneck and (b) Adust cap with tamper evident closure means, as commonly used in theindustry (not shown on the drawings).

1. A seal opening and removal means as integral part of a plasticthreaded closure cap for rigid and semi rigid containers with acylindrical mouth opening securely closed by a tamper evident seal,comprising: a) a multi-layer tamper evident seal having the lowersurface leak proof and air tight attached to the rim of said mouthopening of a container; and b) a threaded closure cap with a disc shapetop wail connected to a cylinder with a female threading inside,engaging with a male threading of the container neck of said container;and c) a tamper evident band which is detachably connected to the lowerend of said cylinder, and held in place by a collar on said containerneck that limits said closure cap from moving in axial direction untilremoved; and d) a plurality of protrusions, pointing downwards from saiddisc top wall of the closure cap towards said tamper evident seal,remaining initially at a small distance thereof, limited by said tamperevident band and wherein said protrusions are equally spacedcircumferentially on a somewhat smaller circle than the cross-sectioncircle of said mouth opening of the container.
 2. Each of saidprotrusions of claim 1 has at least two cutting edges of which one isvertically oriented and one radially, ending in a sharp point at asmaller distance from the center line of the mouth opening of thecontainer than the vertically oriented cutting edge.
 3. The verticallyoriented cutting edge of claim 2, can be positioned under an angle withthe centerline of the container neck, having an intersection with theradially oriented cutting edge, at the lowest tip of the protrusions ata smaller radial diameter of said mouth opening.
 4. Said tamper evidentband of claim 1 is detachably connected to the lower end of saidcylinder having a dual function; (a) to maximize the screwing down ofsaid closure cap onto said container neck limited by said collar locatedon the lower end of the container neck, thereby positioning the lowercutting edges of the protrusions within said closure cap just above saidtamper evident seal and; (b) to prove integrity of the said container,showing that tamper evident seal has not been tampered with, thusallowing said closure cap firstly to move downwards onto the containerneck by turning said closure cap clockwise and subsequently to getaccess to the content of the container by rotating the capcounterclockwise.
 5. While the protrusions of claim 1 and 2 are anintegral part of said closure cap, the cutting edges of said protrusionswill make a rotational and an axial movement, when the said closure capis further screwed down onto the container neck upon removal of saidtamper evident band, thereby cutting a disc shape part in said tamperevident seal, provided the said closure cap is rotated over an anglelarger than 360 degrees divided by the number of protrusions, which discshape part will stick between the protrusions, allowing to be removedwith the said closure cap when the closure cap is subsequently removedfrom the container neck and thus will not end up in the container,without the need for an additional manual operation to remove this partfrom the container mouth.
 6. The lower radially oriented cutting edgesof claim 2 will be only shortly engaged in the cutting operation, whenthe said closure cap is rotated clockwise, while being screwed down ontothe container neck and moves in axial direction underneath said tamperevident seal of claim 1, but at a smaller diameter than the remainder ofthe cutting operation by the vertically oriented cutting edges, whichare at a larger diameter.
 7. The cross-section of each protrusion ofclaim 2 has a triangular shape, having three corners whereby one corneris close to the inner circle of the container neck, while the two othercorners are at a smaller diameter of which one is the verticallyoriented cutting edge.
 8. The triangular shape of claim 7 bends theoverhanging part of said tamper evident seal, against the inner wall ofthe said mouth opening, when said closure cap is rotated clockwise andsaid tamper evident seal is being cut open.
 9. A seal opening andremoval means as integral part of a plastic threaded closure cap forrigid and semi rigid containers with a cylindrical mouth openingsecurely closed by a tamper-evident seal having a reinforced rim,comprising: e) a multi-layer tamper evident seal with an enlargedreinforced rim diameter having the lower surface leak proof and airtight attached to the rim of said mouth opening of a container; and f) athreaded closure cap with a disc shape top wall connected to a cylinderwith a female threading inside, engaging with a male threading of thecontainer neck of said container, provided with internal means forcutting off the outer rim of the inner seal; and g) a plurality ofprotrusions, pointing downwards from said disc top wall of the closurecap towards said tamper evident seal, remaining initially at a smalldistance thereof, limited by said outer rim of said inner seal andwherein said protrusions are equally spaced circumferentially on asomewhat smaller circle than the cross-section circle of said mouthopening of the container.
 10. Reinforced inner seal overhanging rim ofclaim 9a, provided with a weaker circumferential slot right at the edgeof said container mouth opening, allowing the outer overhanging part ofthe inner seal rim to be cut off by circumferentially located innercutting means of the closure cap of claim 9b.
 11. The protrusions ofclaim 1, 2 and 9c, having a plurality of cutting edges and preferably atriangular cross-section, but not limited thereto.
 12. A (container)‘closure system’ for a container with a cylindrical month openingsecured by a tamper evident seal and an inner seal opening and/orremoval device integrated in a sport closure cap holding a valve system,wherein cap said closure system comprises: h) a multi-layer tamperevident seal/inner seal with a reinforced overhanging rim of which thelower surface is securely leak and air tight attached to the rim of saidcylindrical mouth opening; and i) a closure cap assembly consisting of aspout having a cylindrical part with a female screw thread inside,holding an integral valve and a valve retaining element; and j) saidclosure cap is being screwed over said tamper evident seal onto thecontainer neck of which the valve retaining element has a centralopening that is closed off by said valve; and k) said closure cap isprovided with a plurality of protrusions with a minimum of one,preferably three, pointing downwards, initially remaining just abovesaid tamper evident seal; and l) said protrusions are equallycircumferentially spaced at a diameter somewhat smaller than the insidediameter of said mouth opening; and m) said protrusions have a number ofcutting edges, preferably four, of which two are vertically oriented,one horizontally positioned and one cutting edge is positioned under anangle, of which the lower horizontal cutting edge is initially locatedjust above said tamper evident seal; and n) said horizontal cutting edgeand said cutting edge under an angle meet each other at a diameter whichis smaller than said vertically oriented cutting edges; and o) saidvalve retaining element is interlocked with said spout in such a waythat when tire closure cap rotates clock or counter clockwise, bothparts move simultaneously; and p) said tamper evident seal has adiameter a few millimeters larger than the rim outside diameter of saidcontainer neck and is weakened circumferentially therein right at theoutside rim diameter of container neck, in order to provide a cut offplace or allow bending of the overhanging part of said inner seal; andq) said closure cap is screwed onto said container neck until stopped bythe overhanging part of said tamper evident seal; and r) said cylinderof said closure cap can be provided at the lower side with provisionspreventing the closure cap from being removed, after the cap is screwedfurther down onto the container neck, thereby breaking off theoverhanging circumferential part of the rim of said tamper evident seal,which is then in the shape of a ring that remains within the hollowspace of said closure cap; and s) said preventive provisions can besmall hooks on the lower inside of the cylinder of said closure cap thatinterlocks with a ring, which is part of said container neck or can beof a ratcheting arrangement therewith in such a way that allows the capto rotate clockwise only.
 13. The inner seal opening or removal deviceas described in claim 12 as part of a sport closure cap with protrusionsinside, will cut a circular disc into said tamper evident seal, when thecap is rotated over an angle larger than 120 degrees for one of thepreferred embodiments, whereby the disc will stay within the boundariesof said three protrusions with foreseen means at the inside of the valveretaining element to assure that the fluid flow to the spout is nothampered by this disc.
 14. An inner seal opening device as described inclaim 12, for a container having a tamper evident seal within a sportclosure cap, holding three cutting protrusions inside, will cut threebanana shape openings into said tamper evident seal, when the closurecap is rotated over an angle of less than 120 degrees.
 15. The totalflow area of the three banana shape openings in said tamper evident sealof claim 14 shall be larger than the cross-sectional flow area of thespout of said sport closure cap.
 16. The seal opening and/or removaldevice as described for the sport closure cap in claim 12 till 15applicable to all sport closures (example: Self Regulating Spout/SRS,push pull cap, flip/twist top closures, closures with/without valvesystems, pour spout closures and the like), but not limited thereto. 17.The described inner seal opening device of claim 12 applicable for alltype of containers provided with a bottleneck type exit, closed by atemper evident/inner seal and a screwed or pressed-on closure cap withor without a tamper evidence band, whereby the closure cap is removedtogether with the tamper evident/inner seal, in order to get access tothe contents of the container.
 18. A tamper evident seal of claim 12,having an reinforced rim, that is a few millimeters larger than theoutside diameter of said container neck, that can bend over in such awaythat it prevents the closure cap from unscrewing from said containerneck, after said tamper evident seal is cut open.
 19. A tamperevident/inner seal-opening device of claim 12 integrated in all types ofsport closures for beverages with a tamper evident/inner seal thatremains with the container and disposed of as a unit.
 20. A closure capof claim 12, 16 and 17 provided with visual marks, showing an open/closeposition relative to the bottleneck and a detachable dust cap, securingthe opening of the spout.